Pakistan 'cries' of Nuclear Racism

Former American secretary of state, Madeleine Albright is not the only one who has described the nuclear weapons of Pakistan insecure and a threat. Few weeks back she reportedly described Pakistan as an â€œinternational migraineâ€. According to various news reports, she said: â€œMy own sense is Pakistan has everything that gives you an international migraine. It has nuclear weapons, it has terrorism, extremists, corruption, very poor and itâ€™s in a location thatâ€™s really, really important to us. â€¦ I think that the current president and the current secretary of stateâ€¦ have a very big job ahead of them.â€

Since February 2000, Pakistan has a National Command Authority (NCA) in place which is responsible for nuclear strategic policy formulation and exercises control over the employment and development of all strategic nuclear forces and strategic organizations in the country. Islamabad has over the years, taken a number of steps to ensure the safety and security of its nuclear weapons, fissile material stocks, and nuclear facilities. Islamabad successfully stymied the A. Q. Khan networkâ€™s activities.

Pakistan ratified the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (1979) on September 4, 2000. It is also a party to the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and Nuclear Safety Convention. In January 2001, the government of Pakistan promulgated PNRA Ordinance establishing a complete independent regulatory authority called Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA). This authority has been entrusted with the control, regulation and supervision of all matters related to nuclear safety and radiation protection measures in Pakistan.
On 2 February 2000, Pakistanâ€™s National Security Council approved the creation of the National Command Authority (NCA) The NCA is responsible for nuclear strategic policy formulation and exercises control over the employment and development of all strategic nuclear forces and strategic organizations.
The NCA comprises the Employment Control Committee (ECC) and the Development Control Committee (DCC), as well as the Strategic Plans Division (SPD), which acts as Secretariat. The â€œEmployment Control Committeeâ€, chaired by the head of the government, includes the Ministers of Foreign Affairs (Deputy Chairman), Defence, and Interior; the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) and the Services Chiefs; and the Director General of the Strategic Plans Division, who is also the secretary of this committee. Technical Advisers and others can attend if and when asked and/or required by the Chairman. The main duty of this committee is to formulate the countryâ€™s nuclear strategy, including the targeting policy. The head of the government is also the chair of the Development Control Committee, which is responsible for the development of strategic assets. This committee includes the Chairman of the JCSC, who acts as Deputy Chairman; the three Services Chiefs; the Director General of the Strategic Plans Division; and the heads of concerned strategic organizations as and when required. The Strategic Plans Division (SPD) is currently headed by Lt General Khalid Ahmed Kidwai and acts as the Secretariat for NCA. The primary duty of the SPD is the planning and co-ordination of the establishment of a reliable command, control, communication computers and intelligence (C4I) network for the NCA.

Pakistan operates a two-man rule. It has worked out a very rigorous selection process for personal working on nuclear duties. According to details, the process is close to the American Personnel Reliability Program (PRP), all employees and their families are vetted, and this process is repeated every two years or when the staff member is transferred.

Lt. Gen. (Retrd) Khalid Ahmed Kidwai, one of the most important figures in the nuclear establishment of Pakistan while giving a lecture at the Naval Postgraduate School acknowledged some of the often-heard concerns over Pakistanâ€™s nuclear command and control structure from both Pakistanâ€™s friends and enemies. However, he said that this is because of a large information gap and general lack of official communication about the Pakistani nuclear program that had led to a snowballing effect of worry about the issues of safety and security of Pakistanâ€™s nuclear facilities, technology, and materials. On the widespread speculations about the chances of Pakistani nuclear weapons falling into the hands of religious extremists, General Kidwai pointed towards the measures Islamabad has taken to ensure the security of its nuclear arsenal and weapons production program and the steps taken by the Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA) to enhance safety, security, and accountability of all Pakistani nuclear weapons, facilities, and materials that started prior to the September 11 terrorist attacks or the irresponsible actions of Pakistani scientist Dr. A.Q. Khan, and explained his speaking tour in the United States was intended to present the truth, correct some misconceptions, and address the concerns of the American intellectual community

Pakistan is the most misunderstood and misinterpreted country in the world. Pakistan is portrayed as a country on the verge of being collapsed or taken over by the jehadists or that it has a rogue army which will take over the nuclear weapons and will use them. Those who claim that the Pakistan army will be radicalized or join hands with jehadists or is increasingly becoming a rogue army have no idea about the idea and functioning of the Pakistani armed forces. Pakistan army is among the disciplined and well trained armed forces in the world. A closer look at the history of Pakistani army and the background of the COASs is a case in point.

Pakistan is doing everything to secure its nuclear complex, not because the United States of America and the West wants so but because of its own sense of responsibility. It is highly unfortunate that any foreigner who comes to Islamabad and stays at Marriott for a few weeks or even days becomes a specialist on Pakistan. Other than many things which America needs to do in this part of the world to improve its image, perhaps the most important thing to do is to train a new generation of Pakistan specialist academics who should understand the true nature of the society, culture and state of Pakistan.
What more Pakistan can do to satisfy the world that it is doing every thing in its power to ensure the safety and security of its nuclear weapons? One is not a conspiracy theorist and never liked such thing but it seems that the West and especially the Americans will not be satisfied till Pakistan is a nuclear state and this harangue will continue. What has been recently published about how secure even the American nuclear weapons are in national and international media should have made American policy makers ponder to first take steps to put their own house in order before criticizing other states. However, this never happened and will never happen. One has not heard any thing about the serious security lapse by the British security at Heathrow and else where during and after the murder of a former Russian spy, Alexander Litvinenko in London in 2006. How can one describe continued American harangue about the security of Pakistani nuclear weapons when their own nuclear weapons are not as secure as the Pakistanis? The answer is Nuclear Racism.

chill out it would take long for pakistan to have a civilian nuclaer deal like india because of 3 reasons 1>markets as being said in india case i.e. india is huge market blag.blah and so on 2>ther is any george bush for them3>china became superpower fast and forces world+america to deal with pakistan